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After an extremely successful time at AOL, Brad Zions cashed out at the right time and began looking at his next challenge: making it in the film world. Zions connected with Jennifer Westfeldt and Eden Wurmfeld and helped fund and produce the indie gem,
Kissing Jessica Stein. The rest, as they say, is history. Chris Neumer talks to Zions to get the full story.
Conrad Vernon directed the third highest grossing film in American history and you've never heard of him. Shame on you. Chris Neumer shares a margarita with Vernon and gets into why Vernon calls the experience "absolutely horrendous".
Producer Eden Wurmfeld was handed an unenviable task: grab the producer reins of a small, $1 million movie being made in New York with two unknowns in the lead... and make it good. And Wurmfeld delivered. Here she talks to Chris Neumer about the difference between shooting in New York and LA, what having no money means and how making indie films can influence your friendships.
CHRIS NEUMER: There’s a lot of interesting stuff out there, it’s just exciting and vibrant, and bold. It seems pretty synonymous with the way you go about things. It’s a different color scheme, and a different style of shooting, and …
Director Hans Petter Moland's first English language film,
The Beautiful Country, was fraught with so many problems and issues--it was shot on two different continents, involved water, children, animals and lots of extras--that it is hard to believe it came together. Moland talks to Chris Neumer about the perils he encountered.
Letters to Cleo singer Kay Hanley had one of the biggest aural impacts of 2001, singing the lead vocals for Josie in the grossly misunderstood film,
Josie and the Pussycats. Chris Neumer talks to Hanley about hair metal, learning under fire and, once, even manages to get serenaded.
Renowned French writer/director Luc Besson is retiring. There are, however, enough asterisks and footnotes to that statement that the movie-going public doesn’t need to worry about an absense of Besson in any conventional sense.
From very early on in his …
Luc Besson is one of the greatest cinematic talents ever to have come out of France. From
Big Blue to
The Professional to
The Fifth Element, Besson has carved out quite a reputation for himself. He chats with Chris Neumer about retirement, casting British actors and the pains of paying to make things look worse.
It was probably inevitable, but 'filmmakers' are now shooting projects on their cell phones.
Actor Scott Cohen plays the token male character in
Kissing Jessica Stein, a role he relishes immensely. Cohen talks to Chris Neumer about the energy of New York City, playing dark characters and why you should never get arrested early in the morning after a late night of shooting.
Todd Solondz is one of the film world's most off-beat writer/directors. He is the only filmmaker Chris Neumer has ever spoken with who professes an utter disdain for his line of work. "Some people love the process of making a film," Solondz states in his near trademarked, high-pitched voice, "I just don’t happen to be one of them." Neumer investigates.